Q: What happened next after your session with Dickie Wong and Dennis, there was one 7" titled 'Everyone Is Crying' on the Merritone label, is that the same time period?

A: Yeah. And even that guy, he died up here in New York too, the producer Al Small. He had died up here too, something happened...

Q: 'Al Small'? Never heard about him, no.

A: Al Small, yeah. That's the producer's name, he was a kinda quiet guy that goes to the studio and do some good songs.

Q: You hung out a lot at Chancery Lane in this period too, I wouldn't be surprised if you did (laughs)?

A: Yeah, right, that's where all the singers used to be. So from the bottom of Chancery Lane by Randy's then we would go up to Big Yard, and say we will do some rehearsal and then we'd go up there. But all the singers used to be in Chancery Lane. That's how it started, all the singers were there, y'know. And then when I did 'Chaga Warrior' I was in Big Yard that day too, and the Diamonds pulled up at the gate an' I was up on the step and they said, "Dave, Dave, come here, come here!" So I run down the steps and they say, "Listen man, we a go studio right now!" So I said, "What! How I gonna record a studio an' not even know the words to the song?!" And they said they had it written out and said, "Come, let's go". We went to Channel One, and that was it. 'Chaga Warrior' was a hit, that's when I start record with the Diamonds. I was the only one that could lead the Mighty Diamonds outside of the original Diamonds. I was the only one that they say, 'I want you to lead this one, I want you to lead that one'. I was the only one, like 'Black Man Dance', it was them behind it too.

Q: I doubt they were recorded in any other period than the late seventies, tunes like 'Pay The Price' or 'Chaga Chaga Warrior' doesn't come across as being from the early eighties period. Are you sure?

A: I'm sure, early eighties. And I'm sure about 'Celebrate', because that was a Festival song and that was in '82, and I did 'Chaga Warrior' after that. I did 'Chaga Warrior', then we went back to studio and we did 'Pay The Price' and we did the 'Rainbow' (sings the chorus). I did that one for Diamonds too, I know.

Q: Who was behind that Bad Gong label, this was formed between you and the Diamonds?

A: Which label? Oh, Bad Gong? Yea, that was Bunny Diamond's idea, that was Bunny, yeah. Bunny's company, Bad Gong.

Q: And the songwriting credits was to 'Fitzroy Simpson', which is Bunny Diamond, for your songs. So he wrote them, or just took your credit?

A: Yeah, that's Bunny, that's the short one, yeah. He write them, he wrote 'Chaga Warrior', he wrote 'Pay The Price' too. 'Rainbow' was an adapted song, it was an old Studio One (originally a solo cut on Studio One by Wentworth Vernal, the 'second half' of the Termites). They said they want me to do that one, so I did.

Q: Did you record like a full album with the Diamonds producing?

A: No. The amount of singles I have right now over my career, is more like five albums. Yeah, the amount of singles, and I don't remember all a them, I had one named 'Redemption Time' with them too. I did a lot of songs.

Q: That was for Clancy Eccles?

A: No, that 'Redemption Time' was for a kid up in London, he lives in London. His name is Marty, Martin.

Q: The label has it as produced by 'W. Carmen'. And Clancy Eccles, New Beat was his label.

A: Yeah.

Q: Can you recall 'It's All Your Fault' on the D'Aguliar label, for Dennis Brown and one 'A. Smith'?

A: Yeah, yeah, the D'Aguliar Sound. Yeh, you see the songs like that now, you hear I didn't remember them - it's so much songs, y'know. 'It's All Your Fault' was late seventies too. I can't remember him, it's a long - can't remember who was 'A. Smith'.

Q: Did you get to perform around JA or was it mainly recordings for you?

A: Yeh, I did some shows, I did some nice shows too. Like, the Diamonds had a show they kept in the Sheraton Ballroom (since renamed Wyndham Hotel, a popular New Kingston concert spot). This was like (long pause)... in the end of '82 or early '83, we had a big show in Sheraton Ballroom and that too was sold out. That was a good show, I did a few gigs in Jamaica. But the most shows I did was when we were in the Festival, them gigs. We start from Westmoreland coming all the way up. I was there doing all the shows down coming up, and when we did the final they put it on the TV.

Q: How did you end up doing something like the Jamaica Song Festival?

A: It was not planned. Yeah, Dean Fraser just came and looked for me and that's my luck in music. Like the two songs I've had that hit, 'I Bet You Don't Know' and 'Chaga Chaga Warrior', them two songs is songs that they just called me and say, 'Dave, we want you to do this', and then I jus' do them, and that was it.

Q: Back to the mid seventies again where you hooked up with Derrick Harriott, cutting tunes like 'Native Woman' for him. Harriott was a good producer, this is on a rootsier tip than usual for Derrick.

A: 'Native Woman', yeah. It was just one a them inspirations, y'know, I don't remember if there was anyone special. And at that time too, Dennis Brown was around Derrick Harriott at the same time that he did the 'Concentration' and all them songs, 'Tribulation', that was the same time. I was in the field, the same thing when going to studio with D. Brown and then Derrick say, "Dave, I want you to do one for me, or two, yeah?" And that's how I did that one. I can't really remember the - can't recall the inspiration, 'Native Woman'. Could be a love song though, but I don't remember.

Q: It is. Did you know that that tune ended up on a French CD? It's been out for a few years now, with various Harriott productions.

A: French? No. OK, is a lot of things that happen in my career that I don't know about. And Merritone back in the seventies, 'I Bet You Don't Know' was like an anthem, I just 'scrubbed' the Merritone club and the disco that plays the song, it just goes like an anthem. Up to now with all them years gone by and he would still play it at nights. Whenever he is playing out, he is always playing it like an anthem, Winston Blake.

Q: Yeah, Merritone. Amazing that he still plays out there after all these years. The longest running disco of all in Jamaica.

A: Yeah, he still plays. He plays New York too.

Q: The longest running sound JA ever had, from the fifties up to now. Talk about persistence, you gotta respect that.

A: Ever, ever! He's a legend here.

Q: Your work with Manzie and Hollett's JA Man label now, this is where a small portion of your work can be readily available nowadays, out of all the unavailable records, or should I say 'easily obtainable at present', with 'My Homeland' among the selections. Did you know Manzie from before this came about?

A: It's the same thing like being in Chancery Lane where all the singers at, and he comes forth and say, "Dave, I want we to do a lickle t'ing together", or whatever, and we'd reason out the money he would pay me. Those days wasn't much money doing recording, even if we didn't have a big name we'd work something out, and I did a few songs for Manzie.

Q: Yes, 'My Homeland' wasn't the only one. The other one escapes me...

A: No, I did one called 'Jah Know'. Yeah, I did a couple of songs for Manzie.

Q: Was there any concrete plans to put together an album in the seventies, for any of those you worked with apart from Dickie Wong or the Diamonds, like Dennis, Manzie or Derrick Harriott?

A: Yeah, I was always doing work on it like it reach halfway and then somet'ing happen, we didn't get to finish it up. But, this present album I'm working on is not plain, y'know, 'cos when an artist is aware, like coming off a layoff, he build his repertoire and could come back with a new name but when the music buying public hear your songs they could tell it's not a - weh you'd call a 'amateur', right, they could know that its professional music. That's why I'm saying that I will change my name to 'David Shupah', and 'Shupah' is Nigerian, it means 'moon', understand? Then it's 'Dave Moon' (laughs), in English, yeah. But Shupah is Nigerian.

Q: I think it could be a drawback to switch from your original name, to be honest...

A: You think so?

Q: Yeah. Well, it could be.

A: You think I should keep my original name?

Q: For some reason I believe it's the better option, because...

A: I'm already known as that?

Q: Well, that name is out there still, like on the CD's containing some of your work, I think it's better to keep it and see how it takes off, to begin with.

A: Right. But what I'm saying, if the song is a monster and it's out and it gets played on the air by this name David Shupah, but the song is so bad but 'Who is David Shupah?' But the credit on the record itself, like on my label - my label is called Shanty Records, right, and I would have songs written by 'D. Robinson', and then songs written by 'David Shupah'. But I will think about it, I really and truly think that I want to change it, y'know.

Q: You did a tune for the Flag Man label titled 'Song My Mother Used To Sing'. This was for (deejay turned producer) Trinity, I believe it was his record label at the time.

A: Flag Man? Yeah. That's a song - you know how much time I tried to remember that song coming from school, and D. Brown come up and tell me he just did it! That song is a song which - I was on TV with that song, like 'Where It's At'. Like, they had a t'ing on Saturdays like what they have over here in America that...

Q: Like a Jamaican equivalent of the 'Soul Train' show, Don Cornelius style.

A: Yeah, but it was called on JBC-TV 'Where It's At', and 'Song My Mother Used To Sing', that was one of the monsters. That was a D. Brown song, you know that too, right? I re-recorded it.

Q: Was that a suggestion from Dennis?

A: No, I loved the song and I said I would do it and he said, "Go ahead if you like it like that way deh", y'know. It was selling back then too.

Q: You got the offer from Trinity to record for him at Chancery Lane again, that wouldn't be a wild guess (laughs).

A: It's like one big family down at Chancery Lane, y'know, everybody knows everybody. And I remember one time when even Gregory Isaacs used to give me money and said, "Dave, go buy some fish". And the fish them name 'Bam', and I would roast them on the sink. Like five - ten - twenty pounds we'd buy, Big Youth, all of us the singers used to just come and eat, drink the beer, y'know. And yeah, we used to have fun back then. And then on the wall down the Lane, all the singers' names used to be on the wall. You know, Chancery Lane, everybody's name was on the wall.

Q: Like, everyone wrote their own name on it, having their own graffiti there.

A: Right. No! We had a painter who did it, we had somebody did it, with colour. Yeh, somebody did it and put every singer's name on the wall.

Q: Is it still there?

A: I don't know, I haven't been there since 1982.

Q: Must be a lot of memorable things you went through in those days.

A: Oh yeah. There's so much things, like some of the songs you call, like 'Song My Mother Used To Sing' on Flag Man, and you know somet'ing? If I should come to Jamaica tomorrow and get the songs an' put all them songs together, that's a monster album too with all them old songs. Yea, all you've gotta do is just remix them, that's it.

Q: 'Remix them' - in what way? Recutting them, or you mean clean them up? I hope you don't mean some out-of -place overdubs and that stuff, which just spoils the whole thing in my opinion. There's numerous examples of this type of mishandling or 'tampered with' foolishness out there. I say 'leave it', you cannot possibly add anything to it - now, that will simply destroy the listening experience. You won't do that, will you?

A: Yeah, no. Yeh, clean them up a little bit, give them a different mix, that's it.

Q: If you would, try to keep it as it was.

A: Yeah, you should hear 'I Bet You Don't Know', the one I've got now that's recorded now, the new one. Nice, y'know. I've got 'Put Your Head On My Shoulder', is another old song (sings the chorus). Remember that song, a real old one? That was Paul Anka, he lives in Canada, he's a Canadian. Then I record 'Get Along', the one that the Melodians did (sings the chorus). Then I did one crossover too.